Republican
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos unveils during a news
conference, Thursday, Jan. 17, 2019, in Madison,
Wis., a $340 million income tax cut plan he says
gives Democratic Gov. Tony Evers a "fantastic
chance" to fulfill one of his main campaign
pledges

MADISON — Wisconsin
Republicans on Thursday unveiled an alternative way to
pay for Democratic Gov. Tony Evers proposed income tax
cut while also moving quickly to approve a state-level
health insurance guarantee for people with pre-existing
conditions.

Evers came out against
the GOP tax plan, while he asked Republicans leaders to
consider changes to the health insurance proposal to
reach a compromise that he would sign. Both issues are
early tests for how the governor and Republicans who
control the Legislature will work together as they
jockey for position and attempt to get the upper hand
early in the governor's first term. State government is
under divided control for the first time in more than a
decade.

Republicans were also
moving ahead quickly with a bill that would provide a
state-level guarantee of health insurance coverage for
people with pre-existing conditions. The Assembly Health
Committee approved the measure Thursday, two days after
a public hearing, which sets up a vote by the full
Assembly on Tuesday.

Evers tweeted that he
asked Republican leaders in a meeting Thursday to
consider numerous changes to the bill, including
preventing insurance plans from setting annual and
lifetime limits, covering services for mothers and
newborns as well as prescription drug costs. Evers said
the state must also withdraw from a multi-state lawsuit
seeking repeal of the federal law — a move that would
require legislative approval.

"I will not sign
legislation that fails to fully protect Wisconsinites
like me who have pre-existing conditions," said
Evers, a cancer survivor.

Assembly Speaker Robin
Vos said later Thursday it was "too early to
tell" whether Republicans would agree to Evers'
demands.

"I'm not going to
negotiate by Twitter," Vos said after emerging from
a meeting with Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald.
"I think that's kind of BS."

Vos wanted to approve the
bill Tuesday, the first day lawmakers were in session.
That evening, Evers is set to deliver his first State of
the State speech.

Supporters of the GOP
proposal argue that there's no reason to oppose putting
in place state protections, which would only take effect
if the Affordable Care Act is repealed. But opponents
say it wouldn't work as planned unless other elements of
the federal law, including those designed to keep down
costs, are also in place.

Democratic Rep. Jimmy
Anderson, who is paralyzed, called the bill a publicity
stunt that gives "false hope" and does nothing
to make health insurance more affordable and accessible.

On the tax cut plan, Vos
cast the $340 million proposal unveiled at simultaneous
news conferences across the state as a "fantastic
chance" for Evers to deliver, with GOP support, on
one of his main campaign pledges.

That's not how Evers sees
it.

His spokeswoman Melissa
Baldauff said the GOP income tax cut plan "falls
short" by relying on a $588 million budget surplus
to fund it rather than capping tax breaks given out
under the Manufacturing and Agriculture Credit program
as Evers wants.

Baldauff faulted
Republicans for rejecting federal money to pay for
Medicaid expansion and hiring outside attorneys for
lawsuits targeting last months' GOP lame-duck session,
moves she said "leave taxpayers on the hook for
hundreds of millions of dollars."

Scaling back the
corporate tax credit program is a nonstarter for
Republicans, who enacted the program under former GOP
Gov. Scott Walker.

Rep. John Nygren,
co-chair of the Legislature's budget committee, said it
didn't make sense to "jeopardize what has brought
us to this point of prosperity by undoing a tax
cut."

Republicans have also
refused to expand Medicaid, even though the influx of
federal cash is projected to save the state about $180
million a year.

Senate Republican
Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald signaled general
support for the GOP income tax cut idea. The proposal
would increase the standard deduction and target
individuals earning less than $100,000 a year and
families making less than $150,000. The median family
filing jointly would see a $310 reduction in their
taxes, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan
Legislative Fiscal Bureau.

Republicans said they
hoped to introduce the plan next week with the intention
of it taking effect in 2020.